ENGLAND’S Alex Hales will look to put one over former team-mates tomorrow after a dramatic turnaround in the last two years.

He was loaned out to Worcestershire after being unable to secure a place in the Nottinghamshire side in the County Championship in 2014.

But now the opening batsman, 27, is established as Alastair Cook’s partner in the England Test side after a fine series against Sri Lanka when he notched three 80-plus scores.

Tomorrow, he will be back at New Road as part of the Notts Outlaws team in the Sky Sports-televised clash with Worcestershire Rapids in the NatWest T20 Blast (2.30pm) and should face England team-mate Moeen Ali.

Hales scored 15 and 63 in his one four-day game for Worcestershire against Glamorgan before injuries led to an early recall to Trent Bridge.

County paceman Jack Shantry recalls Hales’ brief sojourn and is relishing coming up against him as high-flying Rapids seek to build on their fine start to the North Group campaign.

Shantry said: “It has been a meteoric rise. Alex was left out of the Championship side because Steven Mullaney was doing well and now he is doing fantastically well for England.

“He has done phenomenally well and fair play to him. Alex is a very good player with the white ball or red ball and he is immensely talented.

“He has had to rein himself in a bit in red-ball cricket but he has done that now and I think he will have a long, successful career.

“For us, it was a great signing. It was a bit of an abnormality that someone as good as Alex was available via the loan system because Notts had such a strong batting line-up.

“He showed himself to be a great talent in county cricket and is now reproducing it for England.”

Shantry added: “It is good for players that England players are available. You want to play against the best there are and he is a dangerous player.

“You want to test yourself against the best, so it will be a good challenge.”

Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes has backed the decision to make all of England’s players available for a four-day window, including all-rounder Moeen.

Rhodes said: “It is a big bonus having Mo available. It is a sensible thing to do as well by the ECB.

“They want our Blast tournament to have good exposure and become a really good domestic tournament.

“It’s good when you’ve got England players playing, just as in the Caribbean Premier League, Big Bash and IPL, where a lot of the home international players are in those tournaments.”

Worcestershire skipper Daryl Mitchell (side strain) and New Zealand paceman Matt Henry (ribs) should be fit for selection after injury.

Rapids’ T20 match at Leicestershire Foxes at the Fischer County Ground was called off earlier today after the umpires decided the ground was unfit for play following heavy rainfall.

It was the second wash-out between the two counties in 48 hours after Wednesday’s Royal London One-Day Cup match at New Road suffered the same fate.

Both sides collected one point.

Rapids (from): Mitchell, Kohler-Cadmore, Moeen, Clarke, Kervezee, D’Oliveira, Whiteley, Cox, Leach, Henry, Barnard, Shantry, Russell, Rhodes.